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| | 1500 | 22nd April: Pedro Alvares Cabral (1460-1526), Portuguese explorer and master of the Nina in the Columbus expedition of 1492, discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal | |
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| | 1540 | Spanish conquistador Cabeza de Vaca appointed governor of the Brazilian province of Rio de la Plata | |
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| | 1550 | African slaves were transported to Brazil to work sugar plantations | |
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| | 1624 | The Dutch conquer Salvador | |
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| | 1636 | November 17: The great Brazilian general Henrique Dias won a decisive battle against the Dutch | |
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| | 1661 | August 6: Holland sold Brazil to Portugal for 8 million guildas | |
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| | 1763 | The Brazilian capital was changed from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro | |
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| | 1789 | Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier led the first Brazilian rebellion against Portugal | |
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| | 1792 | Jose da Silva Xavier was hung, drawn and quartered by the Portuguese | |
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| | 1810 | Overthrow of the King of Spain by Napoleon Bonaparte | |
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| | 1822 | September 7: Brazil declares its independence from Portugal | |
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| | 1822 | 1822-1889 Pedro I ruled Brazil starting the period of the Brazilian monarchy | |
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| | 1832 | April 8: Charles Darwin began a trip through Rio de Janeiro | |
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| | 1888 | May 13: Slavery was abolished in Brazil and more than 4 million slaves were freed | |
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| | 1889 | November 15: Brazilian monarchy was overthrown and a republic was established | |
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| | 1931 | October 12: The 98-foot statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro was unveiled on the top of Corcovado Mountain as a Brazilian monument to one hundred years independence from Portugal | |
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| | 1964 | April 2: Military coup in Brazil led by General Humberto Castello Branco A military dictatorship ruled in Brazil until 1985 | |
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